


with your head full of stars

by jacklalonde



Category: Free!
Genre: First Dates, Fluff, M/M, Sort of????, i don't know h ow to tag this
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-07-22
Updated: 2014-07-22
Packaged: 2018-02-09 10:51:41
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,289
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1980087
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jacklalonde/pseuds/jacklalonde
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Rin takes Haru out for an elegent, romantic date to finally woo him. Well, Haru and the rest of the Iwatobi boys.</p>
            </blockquote>





	with your head full of stars

**Author's Note:**

> struck with an obnoxious lightning bolt of inspiration and a thirst for rinharu.....I wrote this. don't even ask me because I don't know.  
> i am trash and so is this fic. u have been warned  
> (also there's a bit where it mentions that Rin and Nitori share a dorm. yes I know they don't anymore let's just kindly assume this is pre-eternal summer or something) ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯
> 
>    
> title from Up on High by Daniel Rossen

Taking Haru to an elaborate dinner was Rin's first idea. While taking an evening jog to clear his head, Rin had the urge to take a new route, one that went downtown and past lines of shops on either side of him. Forgetting his headphones on the desk in his dorms, Rin had just been trying to focus on his breathing or the people chatting as he passed them. But, passing by an eatery that Rin's known about for a while, he's suddenly overwhelmed with the sound of a jazz band playing inside. For a moment he thinks that he's run into a street sign or something, because he's stopped to listen, to inhale the smell coming from the open doors.

Panicking out of potential embarrassment, he bends down to pretend to tie his shoes, glimpsing up through his sweaty fringe to see someone eyeing him quizzically for twirling his shoestrings around his fingers as he listens. That melody on the trumpet, the enthusiastic clink of piano keys, the light from inside the restaurants doors beating down his back. It's almost too much as he stares down at his shoes. All he can picture is he and Nanase sitting next to each other, his sharp teeth next to Haru's ear, the other choking on his white wine from whatever dirt Rin had just whispered into his ear.

Standing slowly, blood pumping from more than just running and cheeks flushing pink, Rin takes off full speed down the street. 

And it's settled.

Rin downloads some jazz from the internet that night, only slightly with his thoughts on that run home. He only regrets a fraction of it when he forgets to plug in his headphones and Nitori slowly turns to him from his own desk with a raise of an eyebrow. Rin shuts him up before he can say anything with a quick flash of teeth, turning the volume down and trying to calm the constant thoughts plaguing his stupid hormonal mind.

Running the next morning, Rin keeps the few songs he'd pirated on repeat, his fantasy expanding. Now Haru's in a suit—a dress suit, not a swimsuit—with his lips curled around Rin's fork and looking up at him through lashes. Rin actually has to stop to catch his breath, the rest of his team still running in front of him, while he's lost in the idea of Haru slowly leaning over to kiss him as they clink their champagne in the starry lights of his mind.

But Rin's next idea is to hide his blatant lavish date idea behind a front; a friendly dinner with friends. With _friends_. The entire Iwatobi swim club, out to a nice meal, no underlying reasons whatsoever. They agree to meet him at the same place he'd stopped by, the next weekend approaching almost too quickly. Potted plants and carpet decorate the front, Rin coming in through the door with a breath to steady himself. He's shown up and hour early, just to be safe. They remembered his reservation—of course they did, he'd called eight times. In a decorative vase next to him, Rin checks his sharp gaze, his tousled hair, the glint in his teeth. The only suit he’d had on hand was a grey one from his cousin's wedding last year, and he’s outgrown it the tiniest bit. Plus, from how he’s sweating already, he’s fearing for the suits safety. He settles for fiddling with the red rose pinned to his suit to pass the time, then to text Makoto probably more than necessary to ensure their arrival. It's probably too much, but he does it anyway.

“Rin-chan!” someone cries from behind him, and Rin turns, hairs already falling out of place. Nagisa pounces at him, pinching his left cheek and flashing those pink eyes at him, so suddenly that Rin almost smiles out of nervousness.

Rei is quick to reprimand him. “Nagisa! we’re in a sensible restaurant—”

Rin looks up from the shorter blonde, and there they are. Rei walks in with Makoto next to him, both dressed just as dapper as Rin. Rei’s suit is almost laughably small on him and his ears and cheeks are pink, but Rin is looking past them, further into the doorway. He catches Haru's eyes for a moment before the flit away, before he comes into view past Makoto's tall frame. Nagisa is babbling into Rin's ear and Makoto is greeting him but—Haru. _Haru. S_ tanding in a black suit, blue tie, carelessly disheveled collar (and, as Rin's eyes travel, the top of his swimsuit visible above his pants for a second as he walks), stands next to Makoto and keeps his neutral look on the dining room behind them.

“This place is beautiful, Rin!” Makoto says as Rin finds his sense again. He looks around himself for the hundredth time, no longer fully struck with the beauty of the place. Chandeliers dangle throughout the hall, circular tables with white linen seat people in high-end clothes and astonishingly white smiles. The sound of silverware and the gentle chatter of people with too much money to spare is all that can be heard. 

“Truly beautiful,” Rei remarks, and Rin figures that if anything, he has the Rei Ryugazaki stamp of approval.

 

When they’re finally brought to their table, Haru moves ahead of them to take the chair closest to the fountain (a strategic placement—Rin had reserved the table with this exact notion in mind). Nagisa nearly gets in Rin's way with his chatter, sticking close to his arm as they approach the table. But Rin gets there, in the chair next to Haru, and is immediately overcome with the fact that this is real. _This is happening._

They all sit, order drinks, nearly all of them trying to calm their excited smiles as they continue to take around the sights around them. Finally, Rin turns and says it. “Hey, Haru.” He'd tried to sound slightly flirtatious, but he'd really only sounded like he's in pain. But he's less shocked with his own incompetence than the fact that Haru is looking back at him.

“Hi,” he says flatly, before reaching for the glass of water in front of him.

"Let's have a toast!" Nagisa says, rising from his chair almost too quickly and outstretching his arm. The rest of them follow only to please the blonde, reaching out to clink their glasses together. "To swimming!" Nagisa cries. Makoto giggles under his breath as the rest of them echo.

"To swimming."

“Have you ever seen such beautiful glasses, Rin?” Rei asks him then, admiring the ornate details on the drinking glass, rotating it inches from his face. “The crystal design is exquisite. I should ask a staff member if they’re handmade—” There's a loud clinking across the table and Rin turns to see Nagisa tapping vigorously at the china cup in front of him. A woman from the neighboring table turns to look at them, lips pursed.

Nagisa looks guiltily towards Rei, whose ears have gone pink. “I was checking to see if it was real….”

Makoto reaches over and takes the glass from him, Nagisa looking heartbroken. Focusing back on his current mission at hand, Rin goes to drag his eyes back to Haru. But, he pulls back, temple pulsing when he sees that the dark-haired boy has already gone for what Rin thought thought would be a comforting conversation topic, but now serves to be the world's worst distraction for a not-date. The fountain, in all it's glory, is going to be the thing that ruins this night. Haru is already starting to rise from his seat. The others around him must have noticed Haru's longing gaze as well, because Nagisa practically squeaks.

“Haru, remember, we’re keeping these suits on tonight,” Makoto reminds him, tugging at his jacket and his eyes crinkling into a smile. Haru slowly turns away from the running water, a wary eye on Makoto instead of Rin. Rin feels his jaw settle into place, his perfect fantasy tear at the edges.

 

The waiter comes, they order, they act as elegant as a group of teenage swimming boys can. Nagisa almost knocks over his chair, Rei’s watch gets snagged on the tablecloth and nearly pulls it down—but the most disturbing thing to Rin by far is how little Haru has said. Sure, Rin should be used to it by now, but Haru always talks more that usual in Rin's daydreams. So he's not satisfied with the lack of conversations coming from Haru tonight. Not with his smooth-talking and dirty whispering fantasy so close to him.

“Too in awe to speak tonight, huh, Nanase?” Rin muses, tearing off a bit of the bread with his teeth and aching for any sort of reaction.

Haru simply sits, eyes on something in the distance. Rin persists. The first jazz number of the night starts up from the band up front, and with his suit and dazzling smile, Rin feels invincible from whatever might happen tonight. For a moment .

“My parents know one of the owners here, I could bring you guys back here all I want.” Meant for everyone's ears, Rin just ends up leaning more towards the boy next to him.

“Don’t think that’ll be necessary.” Haru says it with a bitterness hidden beneath, going to reach for his water again. Rin pulls back, spirits officially shredded. The others have gone into  their own conversation bubble, discussing the victor of a massive shark and octopus battle, though Makoto keeps laughing and breaking the sincerity of it. Rin turns back to Haru, determined. No more waiting for daydream-Haru to just drool all over him. 

“Oh, no, it wouldn't be a problem. The food here is worth it. But if the others don't want to come next time…I could always just take you.” Rin leans in ever closer. "I hear the deserts are delicious." His left hand flirtatiously begins to wander to Haru's hip before it freezes midair with the sound of a shout above them.

“A shark does not have better agility! They can’t even swim backwards!”

 

And then the food is served.

Rin watches, annoyed, as Haru picks away at his smoked mackerel. The side dishes are new to what Rin's seen him eat, but Haru hasn't seemed to even look at those yet. There's no white wine served around the table, unlike the fantasy, but the fancy sparkling cider is good enough.

“You want to try some of my grilled pepper, Haru?” Rin offers, balancing the fork between fingers and letting himself drag dangerously close to bumping shoulders with the boy next to him. He's just plain thirsty now, even though he's already downed a glass of cider. Haru looks up from his plate for a second, Rin prepares himself, and then…

“No thanks.”

“I’d love to try it, I've heard the sauce is amazing,” Rei announces on his other side. Rin turns to him and purposefully uses his finger to scrape it off the spoon and onto Rei's plate, leaving a satisfied thump as it falls in with Rei's rice. Rin ignores his gasp of protest and then turns to his own plate, seeing the dreams of his jazzy night die in burning flames right in front of him.

At last, Rin has given up all hope. This truly was just a boy's night out. What was he thinking? Haru is going to end up making love to that fountain before Rin even crosses his mind.

 

Haru rises silently a few minutes later, pushing his chair in as the others break away from their conversation to watch him.

“I'm going to the bathroom,” is what he says, before Rin is watching the back of his very well-tailored suit wander through the tables of people and towards the back of the room.

“You know, I think I’ll go too,” Rin announces, baring his teeth in a wild smile that's mostly due to his desperation. He's got to at least try _something;_ he's already gone as far as nearly leaning straight into Haru's lap.

So he follows Haru down a short hall in the back of the building, the lighting dimming, before they come to the door for the bathroom. Right as Haru goes to push it open, he glances behind himself, sees Rin walking determinedly behind him, and stops.

“Rin?” He asks softly.

“I need to talk to you.” Haru looks a little surprised, Rins teeth beginning to bear again from how hard he’s trying to keep his feet planted, eyes locked on the boy who's making him want to double over with butterflies right about now.

Haru's eyes stay steadily on him. "If it's because you think I'm not having a good time, I am. Thank you for taking me here, Rin."

Rin breaks into a real smile, butterflies flapping wildly. "That's a relief," He says with a nervous laugh. "But...look Haru. I wanted to take you here, because i love…swimming with you.” His voice nearly cracks at the end, blushing furiously.

Oh god. He’s done for. Ruined.

“I like swimming with you too.” Haru answers, and Rin's eyes rise from the floor to an also slightly blushing Haru.

“But look, Haru. I love more than swimming...with you.” As Haru opens his mouth to answer a man walks out of the bathroom door behind them both, excuses himself while looking confusedly between them, and quickly walks past them.

“Yeah,” Haru prompts once he's gone, to which Rin's forgotten what he's supposed to say. He's supposed to have this speech memorized, supposed to have this night go on without a hitch. Rin takes on step closer, taking one last breath in before he threatens to jump off into the deep end.

"I've been trying to show you that I like...more than swimming with you...all night." He hopes that he's making sense here. God, why can't he just say it?

"It's strange, Rin," Haru says, and Rin can't seem to look away now. "It's strange when you're surrounded by good friends and then there's you...flirting with me all night."

"Oh," Rin says, scrubbing his hand over his cheek, doing anything with his hands to hide his blush. "I'm sorry, then."

"But, our friends aren't here right now." Haru says, and Rin continues to mess with his hair, shuffle his feet.

"Yeah, I'm sorry, I shouldn't have done all that, it was weird of me to—" And then he looks up, to where Haru is smiling softly towards him.

"Oh," Rin says again. There's no chance he'll be able to say his speech now, especially not from how Haru closes the few steps between them before Rin can process it. Haru always did have slightly faster reflexes than himself, in and out of the water. And now Rin is half a second behind when Haru leans forward to kiss him on the mouth, lips pursed, shaking. Rin's breath instantly fills his lungs again as his arms circle inside Haru's coat, hands brushing skin from where he's only tucked in the front of his dress-shirt. Haru just barely reaches up to brush his fingers against Rin's cheek as Rin deepens the kiss, impatient despite himself. But Haru only kisses him a few times more before he moves his head away, to nearly duck into Rin's shoulder, both their hearts hammering against each other like they've just tied for first.

“I like you too,” Haru whispers into his shoulder, and Rin settles for just staring at the blank wall opposite of them, holding a slightly shaky Haru beneath him, the world exploding in his mind. Rin fumbles to find Haru's hand without looking, but when Haru looks back at him Rin doesn't waste a second to dive back in and kiss him again. It's Haru who reaches to tear open the bathroom door. They stumble inside between kisses, and Rin peeks a look to make sure that this place is really empty.

“Damn, this place is nice,” Rin says to the empty room, soaps shaped like seashells on the counter, the jazz from outside still echoing in.

“Yeah,” Haru says, and they find themselves looking at each other in the mirror, both blushing and Haru's arms around the taller boy's shoulders. Rin's sharp teeth smile hungrily at Haru's watching reflection before he breaks their standstill and pulls Haru along to the last stall.

“This is gross,” Haru says as Rin locks the stall door, but doesn't have time to say much of anything else before Rin’s mouth finds his again and Haru makes a noise in the back of his throat. 

 

Rin's hand is halfway down Haru's pants, head filled to the brim with stars and cheeks burning, when the bathroom door opens again. Rin pulls away and locks eyes with Haru, the other's eyes widening with him. This was a very, very bad idea; an idea that's going to end horribly and both of them half naked. They both simply stand, Haru trying to stop the bucking of his hips against Rin's thigh, biting his lip. Just to spite him, Rin reaches down further and brushes Haru's dick with his fingers. Haru stares blazing fire into Rin's eyes, biting his lip tighter to keep quiet. It feels like several eternities before the sink is turned off and someone sighs, before there's the sound of footsteps and the door creaking closed again. Rin nearly laughs from how quickly Haru lets out his breath, years of swimming repaying them in that moment. That, and leaving Rin with a set of abs to kiss down a few minutes later as Haru blushes the color of the rose on Rin's discarded jacket.

They come back out once each of them finally catches their breath, suits in tact once again. The only thing Rin hadn't planned for the night (besides the last, glorious fifteen minutes) was an excuse to why they both look so blatantly guilty when they approach the table, Rin in the lead, Haru following behind. But it turns out they didn't need one.

“Someone just got kissed,” is what Nagisa says as soon as they're in sight, pursing his lips and twirling a straw around his glass cup. Rin doesn't want to ask where he got a bendy straw in such a nice restaurant. Makoto is blushing like crazy, covering half his face and only sneaking glaces when he thinks they're not looking, which they are. Rei won't even try to look up at them, keeping his gaze on the very interesting pattern of the tablecloth.

Haru sits down, glancing towards the fountain again as if he could hide in it if he wants to. If Haru ends up diving in and hiding among the statues of baby angels that spew water from their mouths, Rin doesn't think he'll hesitate to follow. His chair squeaks as he settles in, not a sound coming from his circle of friends.

“Let's all just…keep eating,” Rin croaks, all too aware of the boy next to him instead of the food on his plate. Gentle chatter around them, the five of them sit in silence until the ice breaks and Nagisa starts off on a tangent that there's no chance of coming back from. It's slightly uneasy, but it seems that within a couple minutes, the realization that two of the five had just been making out in another room has drifted from their minds. In fact, Rin's so caught up in one of Rei's stories that he barely notices when Haru's hand finds his knee beneath the table.

But from the way he nearly chokes on his drink and turns bright pink, he thinks everyone else does.

 

**Author's Note:**

> feel free to contact me at my tumblr !!! this was basically an apology for me posting a fraction of the writing I said I would post over the summer.....but I promise, better things are to come. and possibly more lame rinharu whO KNOWS  
> kudos or comments are very appreciated!! :)


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